Coinbase hires Facebook's Ryan McGeehan to build security programme

Bitcoin-related security has been in the headlines in recent weeks thanks to the Mt. Gox disaster which saw 750,000 bitcoins - worth hundreds of millions of dollars - lost, apparently to malleability-related theft.

Coinbase, a San Francisco-based start-up which has raised more than $31 million in funding, uses a cold storage system with multiple distributed keys to protect its users' funds and is is one of the few bitcoin-related companies to have so far avoided a high-profile hack.

Nevertheless, with bitcoin attracting huge attention from hackers and more than a million wallets to protect, the firm has bought on board Facebook exec McGeehan.

In a Facebook post on his move, McGeehan says: "I've accepted a role at Coinbase to build their security program starting in April...I've decided that crypto currency is worth protecting and I'd regret doing anything else right now."

In another hire, former Amazon director of business development and sales Todd Edebohls is joining Coinbase as VP of business development.